Your algorithm was correct, your code was correct, but you still got rejected. This is not only possible, but incredibly common.

Candidates are routinely surprised when it does because they don’t quite understand the interview process and how they are evaluated.

FizzBuzz might be a "classic" coding question, but it doesn't make it a good one.

If you want an A+ career in technology, you should move to the San Francisco Bay Area. The same argument can probably be made of finance and New York. It’s not that you can’t do it in another city, but your odds are just much better in your industry’s hub. So if you want an A+ career and your industry has a clear hub, go there.

Accept that invitation to do a talk that you don’t really you’re qualified for. Go meet that person for coffee, even if you don’t really see the point. Throw together that website that will almost certainly never lead anywhere.

Opportunities start from saying yes.

Say yes.

The "Google-style" interviews is the one people love to hate. It's broken, good candidates fail, bad candidates just memorize the answers, yadda yadda yadda.

That's all true.

But this is also true: all processes are broken.

FizzBuzz is not the basic, sanity-check interview question that many presume it to be. Use it and you might just end up filtering out some of your good candidates who, unfortunately, suffer from the Smart Person's Mirage.

After coaching hundreds of people through coding, behavioral, and product manager interviews, I’ve distilled some of my core advice into some handy prep sheets.

Study these sheets before your interview. Really understand them. Email me questions if you have any.

As you prepare for interviews, use these sheets. Walk through your next coding problem closely following the procedure below. It’ll help you — I promise.

There’s a trend among start-ups (and some larger companies) that worries me: giving candidates “homework” assignments. Homework assignments lead to candidate abuse. Knock it off (or at least be reasonable). I’ve seen many friends and clients go through this. As a pre-screening round before an onsite interview, a company gives them a “homework” assignment.

Another day, another overly-hyped article on Google’s “crazy” interview questions. This one though gives hope to aspiring Googlers; Google has finally seen the light and realized that brainteasers aren’t useful! Not exactly.

Nothing has changed.